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Shadow Fiend is a ranged carry who collects the soul of every unit he kills, growing stronger with each soul claimed. Because of this, he benefits from a high attack damage potential, but also suffer punishing setbacks if he dies. The Shadow Fiend can also unleash all the souls he has gathered, devastating enemies over a wide area with Requiem of Souls. While highly effective as an offensive hero, Shadow Fiend has no defensive abilities and needs help from teammates to position his abilities.

Pros

Cons

Gains damage from kills.

Fast farmer.

Good balance of early game magic damage and late game physical damage.

Use Shadowraze in early game fights, when it deals more damage than your attacks.

During the late game, Shadow Fiend's attacks should deal higher DPS than using Shadowraze.

Enemies take more damage from Shadow Raze after each successful hit.

To land all three Shadowrazes on distant but stationary targets, move forward a little after each Shadowraze. This is particularly effective when engaging targets who are already disabled, or fighting a teammate.

Since armor reduction is negligible during the early game, Presence of the Dark Lord is best leveled during the mid game, as Shadow Fiend has a very low basic attack damage without items or points in Necromastery.

Requiem of Souls is one of the most powerful abilities in the game in terms of magical damage.

At very close range, Requiem of Souls may kill almost any hero.

Requiem of Souls has a brief charge time, meaning that positioning is extremely important to its proper use.

Use the invisibility from Shadow Blade to sneak up next to an opponent before using Requiem of Souls.

Wait for teammates to stun, root, or slow enemies before using Requiem of Souls.

Begin charging Requiem of Souls next to a target that is cycloned or hidden by abilities like Astral Imprisonment, unleashing the full damage on them when the disable ends.

Requiem of Souls can be stopped during its channel time with the Stop command (S by default). Use this to cancel a poorly positioned cast, or to bluff and intimidate nearby enemies.

Requiem of Souls is often skipped at level six, as it does little damage without the extra souls gained from higher levels of Necromastery, and can be hard to land without additional items like Shadow Blade or Black King Bar.

When retreating, use Requiem of Souls as a defensive cover for your allies and a deterrent against pursuing enemies.

Teamwork is very helpful when trying to land a good Requiem of Souls.

Let an ally such as Earthshaker initiate team fights before jumping in with Requiem of Souls.

Requiem of Souls doesn't need to be cast in the middle of the enemy team to deal damage, as it can be hard to cast because you might be focused in the middle of a team fight. So try to use it where it can hit the enemies as the slow and damage reduction debuff is powerful enough to win you the team fight.

Infused Raindrop will provide you with the mana regen to sustain Shadowrazes throughout the jungle, as well as provide a little bit of tankiness with the magic damage absorption.

Mid game:

Magic Wand will save inventory space and provide a small attribute bonus.

Power Treads increase your damage output with attack damage and agility, as well as survivability and sustainability when switched to strength or intelligence.

Shadow Blade provides Shadow Fiend with an escape mechanism, and helps him position for Requiem of Souls. The invisibility fade time means you won't be visible until you're close to actually casting Requiem of Souls. Using this item and getting directly on top of an enemy and unleashing your ultimate will usually lead to a one-hit kill.

Black King Bar provides good health and damage, but more importantly, can be used to ensure Requiem of Souls is not interrupted.

Hurricane Pike is a natural upgrade from Dragon Lance that can push enemies away while providing infinite range for up to 4 attacks.

Butterfly increases your DPS and makes you much more survivable against enemy carries who are reliant on their physical attacks.

Situational items:

Blink Dagger gives Shadow Fiend some much needed mobility, and can be used to jump into fights with Requiem of Souls.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity can be used to cyclone an enemy, giving Shadow Fiend the time to charge Requiem of Souls and hit the enemy upon landing. It is also a great counter to heroes that rely on Blink Dagger to get away since enemy heroes will take 50 damage upon landing.

Diffusal Blade improves Shadow Fiend's physical attacks, providing a boost to agility as well as allowing his attacks to burn mana. The active grants Shadow Fiend a light disable, something his own skills are lacking.

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